I grew up poor in Queens, New York and dropped out of high school at 16. I worked side hustles like selling flowers on street corners during the day, then attended college at night. I was scrappy and set lofty goals for myself.

Since then, I've backed businesses and sold them for hundreds of millions of dollars, been an investor on "Shark Tank," taught at Harvard Business School, and ran two NFL teams. 

But I often wonder what I'd do if I went broke and had to start all over again. Luckily, thanks to AI, there's never been a more exciting time to make money. I was especially inspired after reading about a college student who launched an AI business making $64,000 a month.

So, if I had to begin today with just $100 in my pocket, here's how I would use AI to generate thousands of dollars a month in passive income:

Step 1: Identify a fast-moving trend.

Look for a specific niche with a passionate following. Make sure the trend is compelling enough that many people will pay you to learn hacks. 

My best advice is to start with what you know the best, or research the latest viral posts on social media.

As an example, since so many businesses are trying to figure out how to use AI to improve their bottom line, we'll make our topic: "AI for small businesses and startups."

Step 2: Become an expert in 24 hours.

Take a day, away from any distractions, to learn about the latest time and money saving AI tools for core business functions.

Scour the internet, go through TikTok and Instagram, watch YouTube videos and consume every AI tweet. Then distill everything you learned into a comprehensive document. 

If you don't like to write, record yourself sharing your knowledge (don't plagiarize!) in a two-hour video. You can even use ChatGPT to help you create the video script. 

When you're finished, upload that document or unedited video into an online course creator such as Courseau.

Step 3: Build a logo and website for your course.

First, come up with a clear, actionable title for your offering, like "How to Use AI to Save Your Small Business Time and Money." If you don't know the first thing about design, you can use AI programs like Looka or Midjourney to build a great brand logo.

Then, to create a home for your course to live, use a site called Durable. In 30 seconds, you can build out the website, optimize it for search, and even create AI generated marketing promotions. 

Another tool is Pictory, which lets you transform a text-based course into cinematic promotional videos to better engage your customers.

Step 4: Use AI as your marketing and sales team.

For the last step, you can outsource all your marketing strategy and copywriting to ChatGPT.

All you need to do is study up on the best prompts to get the most out of this magician. I believe that Twitter threads are the best resource.

You can use the platform to create a newsletter, draft viral tweets and churn out irresistible emails — all without having to write a word of it.

And that's it. AI can be a great tool for making money, and it sure as hell beats selling flowers on street corners.

Matt Higgins is an investor and CEO of RSE Ventures. He began his career as the youngest press secretary in New York City history, where he helped manage the global press response during 9/11. Matt's book, "Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential," is out now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

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*The opinions expressed here by CNBC Make It contributors are their own, not necessarily those of CNBC Make It.

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